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20000323

Title: Part of Dungeness Bay to be closed to shellfishing

SEATTLE (AP) - Worsening pollution in the Olympic Peninsula's Dungeness Bay is prompting state health officials to order the first-ever closure of some commercial shellfish tidelands there. The closure of a 300-acre section of the bay will begin in late April, the state Department of Health said Wednesday.

The move is due to high levels of fecal coliform bacteria, mostly from human and animal waste leaking from home septic systems and barnyards in the Dungeness River watershed.

State shellfish specialist Don Melvin said the rising bacteria count has been a concern for years.

Harvesting of crab, shrimp and fish will not be affected by the ruling, said Health Department shellfish manager Bob Woolrich.

Among those affected will be members of the Jamestown S'Klallam Indian Tribe, who raise oysters on tidelands they both own and lease from Clallam County.

The tribe has been preparing for a closure, moving oysters from the affected beds to clean water elsewhere in the bay, said Mark Madsen, the tribe's director of economic development.

But future revenue is at stake if the bay and river aren't cleaned up, he said.

``Long term, this is a big hit,'' Madsen said.

He estimated the closure would cost the 450-member tribe $50,000.

``What this means for us this year is that we won't be able to plant on those grounds, and that means we will have nothing to harvest there in two or three years,'' he said.

Once the ban goes into effect, Clallam County will have 180 days to create a ``shellfish protection'' taxing district. Any money raised would pay for inspectors to police home septic systems in the Dungeness River drainage.

Dungeness Bay is just the latest area where harvesting has been prohibited. Of the 100 or so growing areas monitored by the state, parts or all of about a dozen have the ``prohibited'' label.

Copyright ) 2000 The Register-Guard

http://www.registerguard.com/news/Wire/N1827WA--DungenessClosure.html

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 23, 2000

Answers

Friday, March 24, 2000, 08:58 p.m. Pacific

Shellfish areas closed due to pollution

by Warren King

Seattle Times medical reporter

Three hundred acres of Dungeness Bay on the Olympic Peninsula have been closed to commercial shellfish harvesting because of contamination with fecal matter.

The closure by the state Department of Health affects about one- third, or 25 acres, of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's commercial oyster operation in the area. Another 10-acre operation, Northwest Corner Oyster Growers, also is affected, officials said.

The closure is not effective until April 25 to allow appeals, but both oyster operations already have voluntarily stopped harvesting oysters from the affected portion of the bay, about 20 miles east of Port Angeles. And both have said they will not appeal, said Don Melvin, an environmental specialist for the state Department of Health.

A tiny public beach owned by the Port of Port Angeles also is in the affected area.

Counts of fecal coliform, a bacterial indicator of pollution by fecal matter, were about 25 percent higher than allowed at three of 13 monitoring stations in the bay.

Officials said the pollution is from a combination of failing septic systems, farm waste and storm-water runoff in the Dungeness River watershed. Tribal and county officials said they haven't pinpointed specific sources, but already are at work curbing the pollution.

Valerie Wilson, a watershed planner for Clallam County, said this includes urging farmers to fence livestock areas accessible to creeks and increasing inspections of septic systems for leaks.

Melvin said fecal pollution closes one or two commercial shellfish beds a year in Washington state. Consumption of contaminated shellfish can cause hepatitis A, salmonella and gastrointestinal illnesses.

Cleanups can take five years or longer, Melvin said. "The fastest I've ever seen one turned around is two years," he said.

Denise Clifford, spokeswoman for the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team, said that for about 10 years, many formerly polluted shellfish areas in the state reopened and stayed opened. But recently there has been a pattern of closures, reopenings and then more closures.

"Our agency is quite concerned about this effect," she said. "Growth is definitely taking a toll. Are we going to get to a point where shellfish are no longer a Pacific Northwest icon? If we don't keep our waters clean, we're going to lose this resource completely."

Lyn Muench, natural-resources planner for the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, said the closure is a "big hit," or about $50,000 a year in revenues, on the tribe's oyster operation. One full-time and two part- time employees have been laid off, he said.

The cleanup, Muench said, can't be a one-time fix. "It takes educating and energizing individuals to pump septic tanks, watch farm pollution and not build in flood plains," she said.

Warren King's phone message number is 206-464-2247.

Copyright ) 2000 The Seattle Times Company http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/shel_20000324.html

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 24, 2000.